World-renowned labour economist Guy Standing explains how a new class of people – the precariat – is trapped in insecure work, unstable income and chronic anxiety, and why he believes a universal basic income is now essential if we want to save democracy, freedom and basic human dignity.

Guy Standing is a British labour economist and Professorial Research Associate at SOAS University of London. He co-founded and is honorary co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), the leading global organisation advocating an unconditional basic income. He coined the term precariat in his influential book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, and has spent decades at the International Labour Organization working on labour markets, social protection, and economic security.

In this episode, you get a rare inside look at what it’s like to spend your life on the front line of the fight against economic insecurity – advising governments, designing basic-income pilots, and warning about the political risks of leaving millions of people in permanent precarity.

He explains, among other things:
◼️ What the precariat actually is – and why so many young graduates, migrants and formerly “secure” workers suddenly find themselves in it
◼️ How today’s “rentier capitalism” lets owners of assets thrive while wages stagnate, even as people work harder than ever
◼️ Why he believes an unconditional basic income is no longer a utopian idea but a practical necessity for a stable, innovative society
◼️ What we can learn from basic-income experiments in places like India and other countries, and what happens to people’s health, motivation and agency when their income is secure
◼️ The reforms he believes are needed to move from a fearful, divided precariat towards a more democratic, fair and sustainable economy

Explore Guy Standing’s work
◼️ Books (selection): The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens, Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen, The Corruption of Capitalism, The Blue Commons.
◼️ Talks & interviews on precarity, basic income and the future of work: https://www.guystanding.com/

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◼️ All my work, newsletter & socials: https://robinduijvelshoff.com